A common cold

Another week and another clinic visit under my belt. The counts today were just delicious! Platelets 120. Hg 8.5 and white blood cells 4.5.

I had a bone marrow biopsy today and I will get the results of that next week, I hope. I want NO phone calls, NO emails in the meantime. That would be good news.

So the biopsy today wasn't totally routine because one of my favorite nurses from the hospital finished her Nurse Practitioner degree, passed her boards, and was learning to do a bone marrow biopsy. It took a little longer, and it's a little more sore tonight. But I'm happy to report it did not hurt during the procedure. I have very hard bones, and the best of doctors have had mishaps doing that procedure--a broken needle, a slip and skid down the curve of my hip bone. The first time I had one, the doctor put his knee up on the table to pound the needle in. Thankfully I had some kind of feel good gas for that one, and nobody has done that since.

I'm excited to see these nurses finish school and go to work as practitioners. On the other hand, it is a measure of how long I have been hanging around the BMT unit at KU Med Center! At the hospital one of the technicians (formerly called nurse's aides or LPNs) finished her nursing training, passed her boards, and was my nurse for a day. That was a thrill.

I am just getting over a cold. A plain cold. It's a real novelty to have just a cold, no infection. It is however, a real pain to stay home and miss all my social engagements of the weekend. I even moved back to Mom & Dad's house Friday night because my throat was so sore. I had flashbacks of waking up on Craig Dr with a horrible headache, a high fever, and pneumonia not so many months ago. But my fears were unnecessary, it's just a cold and it's almost gone.

I had a webcam session with Harrison Sunday and he is changing so fast. He waved to me a lot on the screen and did a little showing off. He is nearly walking, and based on what I saw Sunday, will be keeping his parents busy. I think his favorite place to practice was around the kitchen from cabinet to cabinet, opening each of them. Just a matter of time til he doesn't need those hands to hold himself up!

I am optimistic about the biopsy results since my counts have been consistently high and higher. I finally located one of my non-KU doctors with H1N1 vaccine and I will be getting that this week. Then, look out world! Cathi Maynard's on the move!

~Cathi